Cambridge, chums and chocolate

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Productive meeting in Cambridge today, talking over promotion ideas with the other members of the Writing From The Heart team regarding our plans for world domination (literary world, that is).

Basically, if you would like any or all of us for a romantic fiction panel, interviews, talks or workshops - just call!

Then - as it was lunchtime and they are chums - I introduced them to my favourite Cambridge restaurant, The Galleria on Bridge Street.

Where we had a Chocolate Box each.

Can life get any better?

Raising the roof

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They are raising their roof next door. Now, is it me, or does this house look just slightly surprised?

The Rent Day

I went to see another rehearsed reading in the Restoring The Repertoire series this evening - this one was The Rent Day by Douglas Jerrold, first performed in 1832.

Fabulous stuff! A lovely rounded boisterous drama in two acts. Just enough comedy to make the tragedy stark and real - and subtle propaganda to the audience not to gamble their inheritance away, thus ruining their tenant farmers back at home on the estate.

I love these rehearsed readings put on by the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. The actors only open the scripts at 10 o'clock that morning - and are giving a performance full of enthusiasm, insight and simple joy-in-acting at 7 in the evening. Long may you run, guys!
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Heart of the Volcano and butterscotch chocolate

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Ages (ie more than a couple of days) ago I won a download of fellow RNA member Imogen Howson's book Heart of the Volcano - which, incidentally, is a really, really good read.

Today I came home cold and snappy from shopping (why do they always run out of things I want on a Friday?) to find the second half of the prize, which I had totally forgotten about!

Normally I'm a restrained Maya-Gold-two-squares-a-day girl, but Immi, I just want you to know that that was the most more-ish chocolate I've ever eaten in my life. Witness the photo.

I now feel warm, in love with the world, and just very slightly sick.
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National Poetry Day: Heroes and Heroines

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Okay, so today is National Poetry Day. Now, I have published several of my poems - some sensible, some silly - on this blog, but none of them are particularly heroic. This is a problem since this year's theme is "Heroes and Heroines".

That being so, who better as the subject for today's poem than the doctor who always makes me feel better? Enjoy!

(PS - this is one of my sillier poems. Don't go expecting a prize-winning epic)

For Them All ... but especially Blake’s 7 and you know Who
by Jan Jones

Everyone needs to suspend disbelief
How else do children grow?
Everyone needs a fantasy land
Action grand
A heroic band
How else can we create bricks out of sand?
How else make bread out of dough?




Everyone needs a family time
That half-hour in front of the box
Everyone needs to escape for a while
Exchanging a smile
Steal the enemy's phial
Everyone needs to be part of the guile
Ignoring the ticking of clocks.

Tick, tick, tick

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ME
7 copies of short story manuscript, ready to win me £25,000, all parcelled up ready for the post - tick

16 sets of 5 handouts for Writing Romance course in Stoke - tick

course notes - tick

tatty comfortable clothes to travel in - tick

posh clothes to give course in - tick

box of my books to sell having convinced coursees during the day of my brilliance, wit and readability - tick

DAUGHTER
Other half of bedroom that we didn't take to Uni house last week - tick
er, apart from the computer
and the frozen food
and the stuff in the fridge
and her pillows

So that's tick-ish, then
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